Work with Research Variations

Organize parent and child SKUs without losing variation-level research evidence.

Before you begin

Confirm which product is the parent concept and which options are independently sellable variations. Each child should have its own stable SKU. Search Research and Products for all proposed identifiers before creating relationships so an existing child is not added again.

How it works

Parent and child records group related products while preserving data at the level where it belongs. The parent can represent the shared product concept, and children can represent color, size, material, bundle, or another organization-defined option. Variation identity then continues into Quotation, Products, Orders, Testing, and Returns when matching data exists.

Step-by-step

Open Research and locate the intended parent product.
Confirm that the parent SKU and name describe the shared product rather than one sellable option.
Search for each child SKU before adding or relating it.
Create or select the child variation through the supported variation or hierarchy control.
Give every child its own SKU and recognizable option name.
Record shared evidence on the parent when it applies to the whole group.
Record variation-specific evidence on the child when pricing, sourcing, validation, or creative details differ.
Expand the hierarchy and confirm that every child appears under the correct parent.
Review downstream records before changing an established relationship.

Check your result

The Research grid shows one parent with the expected child records. Each sellable child keeps a distinct SKU, and searching a child identifier returns the correct record. Shared and variation-specific evidence is stored at the intended level.

Common problems

A child appears twice: check whether the SKU already existed as an independent record before creating another variation.

The wrong item became the parent: stop adding downstream data and confirm the intended catalog hierarchy before changing established links.

A child is missing from another module: the workflow transition, import, or external source may not yet include that variation.

Analytics combine unexpected products: review parent-child relationships and SKU matches used by the relevant data source.

Permissions and data notes

Hierarchy changes can affect how users interpret product-level totals and how records connect across modules. Make them deliberately and verify linked Orders, Testing, and Returns data before reorganizing mature products. Variation controls require suitable Research and product access.